WHY BOBI IS ARGUABLY THE BEST ‘’AGENT’’ M7 HAS GOT IN OPPOSITION

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

There are times when nothing less than the unvarnished truth will do. This is one of those times- the truth needs to be said for possibly the Uganda opposition to recover in future.

From the bird’s-eye perspective, the opposition looks weaker than it did before, and NUP’s Abed Bwanika was right when he said over the weekend that Museveni has been having the best time of his life since the end of the 2021 elections. It seems it has been designed that way ever since Bobi became the face of the opposition in Uganda.

The idea that Bobi was handled and massaged to the top by powerful people in the regime to slice Dr.Kiiza Besigye’s popularity is widespread. For a long time, Besigye was like a stone in Museveni’s shoes, and nobody envisaged how the stone could be removed till when Bobi came on to the political scene. His first assignment was to go on attack, and he wasn’t really attacking Museveni- he was attacking the former FDC president using mainly propaganda, blackmail and fake news (PBF). He was basically the pawn that was used to weaken Besigye and FDCs.

Large quantities of PBFs have been produced by NUP bloggers against other veteran opposition leaders such as: the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, and his Deputy, Asuman Basalirwa of JEEMA (after the passing of the anti-LGBT bill), Mpuunga Mathius, the Katikiro of Buganda, Kabaka of Buganda, Nabagereka, Mukaku Lubega, etc, to further Bobi’s latest smear campaigns and ideological goals. Bobi, like a vulture sitting in a tree, has been eyeballing every move made by other opposition leaders to stop them from taking the shine off him.

His behaviour seems rather predatory, harmful to the opposition, harmful to Buganda kingdom and spiteful towards other opposition leaders. For example, his attacks on Besigye put FDC and People Power/NUP in a pissing contest up to now, to the extent that a lot of people are, literally, fed up with the opposition. His attacks on Mpuuga and other Baganda leaders is now another pissing contest that we may have to bless ourselves with till 2026. I can see another bunch of more opposition leaders soon joining NRM because they see no future in the opposition.

According to FDC’s Harold Kaija, Joyce Ssebugwawo wasn’t really a mole in FDC as in, like, Museveni’s mole for a long time. Her head was, apparently, turned after losing the elections in Lubaga. Bobi planted a candidate against her, and the loss was too much for her to take in. Museveni being Museveni, he saw an opportunity and reached out to her after losing the elections. Kaija and Besigye reportedly tried to talk her out of joining Museveni then, but she was so angry about the loss. I imagine the same thing would have probably happened to Erias Lukwago, Ssemujju Nganda and others if they had lost to NUP candidates.

What’s confusing is that Ssebugwao was, reportedly, among the few FDC leaders that openly supported Bobi during the Kyadondo East by-election in 2017, instead of FDC’S Katinti. She also reportedly supported former NRM, Abubakar Kawalya, for KCCA speakership. I believe because of the toxic environment intentionally created in the opposition by Bobi; it has become easy for Museveni to recruit from opposition. As a result, the main political parties (FDC, UPC and DP) and other leaders have been weakened at the expense of an inexperienced politician – who is only chasing more fame and wind. No opposition leader since 1986 has travelled more times outside the country than Kyagulanyi.

PAST LINKS TO THE STATE

Bobi and his elder brother, Nyanzi, were extremely chummy with President Museveni and his brother, Salim Saleh, his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and former IGP, Kale Kayihura, before they expressed interest in opposing NRM. It, therefore, came as no surprise to some people when the big people in NRM decided to support him for MP instead of their own candidate, Ssebalu. In fact, Gen. Tumukunde is on record, while being hosted on the Capital Gang, insinuating that Bobi’s campaigns as MP were mainly financed by NRM people. Bobi, himself, confessed on national TV for having received money from some NRMs to help him become MP of Kyadondo East. He also endorsed NRM candidates on various occasions during the 2021 campaigns at the expense of opposition candidates.

One can argue that associating with powerful people shouldn’t raise eyebrows, but I also remember when Andrew Mwenda used to heavily criticise Museveni and his family(1990s-2006), and I thought there’s nothing to it till when he fully joined where money comes from. Oh God, I liked the guy such that I literally became a matching ”mole” fan at the time, and I’m sure a lot of oppositionists fell into his crawls by entrusting him with their secrets and plans, didn’t they?

What’s odd is that all this still resonates in my consciousness somewhere, that how come nobody saw this at the time? How come we all concentrated mainly on Mwenda’s attacks rather than the people he associated with, or he used to associate with? Is it possible he was already on the payroll then, but most of us didn’t want to think about it?

In 2020, former State House spokesperson, Tamale Mirundi, is on record telling people that the deal for Bobi to work for Museveni was brokered by his elder brother Nyanzi. He stated that the state first approached Bebe Cool, but they later changed their mind to Bobi.

Frank Gashumba is also on record openly telling people that Bobi went into a deal with Museveni after the 2021 elections – never to stage protests against Museveni. Gashumba put the deal at a cost of US $5m till 2026. Obviously, we have no way of knowing how true this is, but the fact is that there have been no serious protests in the country since we ended the elections.

Then, there is the serious issue of Museveni writing to the Uganda Revenue authority to release Bobi’s bullet proof car without paying extra taxes. Speaking of the Bullet proof car, nobody knows exactly how Bobi came into possession of the car and how it was bought, apart from what Bobi told us – that it was a ‘gift’ from friends in diaspora.

STATE PROTECTION OF KYAGULANYI

On 14 July 2020, Kyagulanyi assumed leadership of the NUP party, according to EC records. Officially, the name of the party was changed to NUP on 22 July 2020. Current Justice minister, Norbert Mao stated, before he joined the government, that there were state operatives that were behind that certificate of 2019 signed by the Secretary of the EC. Mao also said that NUP registered two constitutions, but we have recently come to learn that the party is still operating using the 2002 Kibalama constitution. Mao contends that NUP was illegally registered as due process and diligence weren’t followed.

Around 2020, some people went to court to settle this, but Judge Musa Sekana ruled in favour of the Kyagulanyi based on technicalities, not the evidence presented. The troubling admission by former NUP leaders that there was no quorum when Kyagulanyi was sworn in as the new party president at Kakkiri in 2020, should have taken precedence over technicalities, I think.

Lawyer Male Mabilizi tried severally to challenge illegalities associated with Bobi Wine, but every time he got close, the state prosecutor (Director of Public Prosecutions, and State Attorney) took over the cases, and the end was all but predictable, i,e. not guilty. All of Mabilizi’s cases against Kyagulanyi ended up being taken over by the DPP with the exception of the one accusing him of having acquired a driving permit unlawfully.

Basically, court cases against Kyagulanyi not only demonstrate that there is a rule of law versus the rule of man in Uganda, but there is manipulation of the law by the powerful to save whoever they want. It seems the law and man are mortal enemies in the struggle for survival of a politician, history, and the fate of the nation.

MUHOOZI PRESIDENCY

The Kyagulanyi era has also served as a way of easing Uganda into a Muhoozi Kainerugaba presidency as different forces in opposition keep fighting each other. The former DP block leaders, headed by Abed Bwanika, have literally accused Kyagulanyi of putting NUP in the hands of NRM ‘’agents’’ in the party. Bwanika’s statements raise eyebrows and invite a nuanced examination of Uganda’s political landscape.

While the notion of a direct confrontation between Bobi and former LOP, Mpuuga, remains highly improbable, dissecting Mpuuga’s claims on CBS recently necessitates exploring the multifaceted personalities that are running NUP and other opposition parties right now.  At the heart of any assessment lies whether their actions are helping Muhoozi become president easily or not.

USA DETERMINED TO FUND BOTH THE UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EAST CONFLICTS

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

America is not giving $95 billion dollars to Ukraine and Israel. They’re giving $95 billion dollars to the American arms manufacturers who will be supplying both nations with weapons. The obscene profits will go into the retirement accounts of the managements of those companies, and the investment accounts of their stockholders.

Admittedly most people don’t realize the U.S. military and the industrial entities that serve it are, for all practical purposes, a massive jobs program.

Its not like in Uganda where you ask parliament to approve millions of dollars to buy fighter jets from Russia- an act that ends up enriching Russians more than Ugandans. Few Ugandans benefit from such deals through ‘enjawulo’ and other benefits.

BTW, it’s indeed insane that Russia is somehow still managing to find resources when it fights Ukraine that is armed by the whole western world. Russia has also transitioned lost markets from sanctions into a war producing one.

War economies are surprisingly strong and shouldn’t be underestimated. Russia has shown that it’s willing to rely on a war economy to stabilise it. This probably surprised the West since by doing so you’re making a bet to win the war and to be capable of making a smooth transition back to a normal economy once the war is over. Currently, it doesn’t look like Russia is anywhere near to be capable of transitioning back to normal markets since they don’t exist anymore due to sanctions.

And if Trump wins the presidency this year, it’s going to be interesting how things turn out in Ukraine and the rest of Europe. I honestly thought that the Israel- Gaza conflict had warned off western interest in the Ukraine war, but, obviously something happened and they are back at it.

WHO RUNS THE WORLD OR POWER IN YOUR COUNTRY?

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

There are a lot of theories out there on the people that run the world. Some people believe that the government is the ultimate authority, and they call the shots. Others believe that large corporations have more power and influence than any one government. And then there are those who believe that it’s actually a select group of wealthy individuals who control everything behind the scenes.

President Woodrow Wilson said: “Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”

I believe the whole world is influenced directly and indirectly by the collective forces and actions of a top wealthy elite class. I believe that there are people who are controlling the greater processes of geopolitics and the global economy.

Every country is divided into four categories of people: the poor(P), the rich(R), Ultra rich people (URP) and Super Ultra Rich people (SURP). I believe that the SURP run the world and they play key roles in every integral global decision.

The P are in the bottom of the food chain and are struggling. Some call themselves middle class people when they build a nice house, buy a car and a few investments. The Ps have high risk of getting killed, being misinformed, and being controlled via threats. Hence, they can’t make major decisions.

The R and the URP are people in power, and they serve as arms of the SURP. They even have potential to become SURPs themselves. They have low risks of getting killed or being threatened. Hence, they work as executors of major decisions.

SURP are at the top of the food chain (Giant business magnets, Royal family members and Secret societies) where no scavenger or predator can bother them. They’re mostly people who have parlayed generational wealth into something that resembles a societal institution. Their command is the law, even in a democratic country. They are at their highest potential, they can crash the markets, they can choke a nation to poverty, and they can lift a nation from poverty. Hence, they control the world.

Most of the Rs and URPs answer to SURPs who financed their campaigns, who influenced (or own) the media, and put them there in positions of power to protect their wealth. The generally used term for these people is oligarchs, and the form of control is oligarchy, from the Greek for “rule by the few”.

There are people out there who have wasted their entire lives hunting down the Illuminati when all they really needed to do was to look out of their window and find the nearest corporation. The top 100 wealthiest individuals control more wealth than the poorest 3.5 billion people in the world. So, a very small number of people have more wealth literally than billions of people.

MONEY IS A BIG FACTOR

Basically, the thing that runs this world is money and the people who run it are those who have money. Rich people essentially control everything, whether they are rich and in public office because they are rich, or merely have bought politicians off.

For instance, Museveni’s family can actually dictate how things are to be done in Uganda, and they can make it stick. They can even determine an opposition leader for the poor if they wish, and the Ps will follow that person because the SURP control information flow.

Even when it comes to committing heinous crimes, money may save you. It determines how much justice you receive in the world. It determines whether you can afford the best legal representation, or not. A man accused of a crime for which the state ended up taking his life, once quipped: “Capital punishment means that those without capital get the punishment”. His name was John Spenkelink and there was reasonable doubt surrounding his guilt. He was born in a poor family; his fate was determined the moment he was arrested. Had he been able to afford the finest lawyers, he’d likely be alive today. He was executed in 1979 when Amin was still president of Uganda.

MONEY AND POLITICAL POWER

Al Pacino’s character, Tony Montana, discusses women with his friend in the film, ‘Scarface’, but the topic can just as easily be applied to anything in the world. “In this country, you got to make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women,” Tony explains to his friend. Power makes the world go round. And power is acquired through wealth. Once you have wealth, you have everything. His words are as true in 2024 as they were back in 1983.

However, Museveni didn’t follow Tony’s advice as he invested in political power first before acquiring wealth. Museveni served in Obote 1, Lule and Binaisa’s governments, but he invested his money in acquiring political power first. He could have built a mansion for himself as most ministers or opposition leaders do nowadays, but he didn’t. He only had a plot of land at Rwakitura before becoming president, but he’s now arguably the largest landowner in Uganda.

Money gives you some power and buys you access to a lot more, but when the chips fall down, people with political power have the power, because they have the coercive might of the state behind them. For instance, the late Sulaiman Kiggundu(inalilahi wahina ilayihi rajiuna) was inarguably extremely rich and had a tremendous amount of power right about until the point he was arrested. Now, people born in the last 17 years don’t even know that Greenland Bank once existed on Kampala Road.

My point though is that there is an upper echelon of people who have far more power than you and me and they’re in varying degrees of shadow. The good news is that God controls all humans in this world.

People with money rule this world. It’s as true in capitalist America and Europe as it is in the “communist” China. Once you reach a certain level of wealth, you gain access to the highest echelons of power and life’s a cake walk from there on out. Money opens doors that nothing else will open for you, and this is true everywhere in the world. Go and make money,guys!

NUP ISN’T A NEW PARTY -IT IS NEARLY 20 YEARS OLD

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK

Dear friends,

A lot of people wrongly refer to the National Unity Party (NUP) as a new party, but this is a party that was registered in December 2004, same time as the FDC. What confuses me is that the Electoral Commission website has it registered on August 28, 2019, yet the delegates conference to change its leadership from Moses Kibalama to Robert Kyagulanyi took place during the Covid lockdown of July 2020. Norbert Mao had promised to expose more of how Museveni was protecting the NUP on EC books,but I don’t know what happened to him the moment he agreed to work with NRM.

What I want to stress is that the party changed its name from National Unity, Reconciliation and Development Party (NURP) to NUP before Kyagulanyi became its president. NUP was never founded by Kyagulanyi as widely reported in the media.

The original founder, Kibalama, and his ‘friends’ from the original NURDP party organised a delegates’ conference in May 2021 in Rubaga Division in which they unanimously agreed to re-appoint Kibalama as their president. In 2022, Kibalama again tried to get his party back from Kyagulanyi- he opened offices in Rubaga Division, but he was once again frustrated by the Electoral Commission.

Ugandans should know that changing the name of a person or organisation doesn’t make it younger. General David Sejusa was born on 13th November 1954. It doesn’t make him younger because he changed his name from David Tinyefunza. You can only legally (not biologically) become younger when you swear an affidavit to reduce your age as NUP’s Kyagulanyi did in 2020. You can simply use whatever name you wish in most countries. Ugandan law allows you to use any name you want, provided this is not done in the furtherance of some other criminal activity.

Outside Uganda, here in the UK, for example, the law allows you to call yourself whatever you like, and no official process is required. However, your circumstances will make a difference. A case in point, it is still a fairly common tradition for a wife to take a husband’s surname on marriage. A copy of her marriage certificate (together with her other documents) will be sufficient to allow the Passport Office to issue her with a passport in her new name. However, if she simply decides to change her name from Amina Goodheart to Amina Badheart, while she has done nothing illegal, she may find that she faces problems with authorities who like a paper trail. In this case, a Deed Poll would be useful. This can be organised by any solicitor and there is or used to be a company called Deed Polls Online who will do the whole thing online for you. This is for the UK only, as the laws will vary from country to country, but I believe it’s the same process in Uganda.

Similarly, a registered political party in Uganda can change its name. The party leader along with the consent of the party’s highest decision-making body must write a letter to the Election Commission. They should mention the reason for change and the new name. If the EC finds that there is already a party with the same name, then EC won’t give the permission to go ahead with the same name. In this case usually parties prefer to do some adjustments by adding a name in brackets along with the party name.

Several UK political parties have changed their names, too, over the years. For example, The Whig Party was one of the two main political parties in England during the 18th and 19th centuries, along with the Tories. The Whigs originated in the late 17th century as a faction of the English Parliament that opposed the absolutist policies of King James II. They were originally known as the “Country Party,” but in 1678, they adopted the name “Whig” (a term originally used to describe Scottish rebels) to emphasize their opposition to the king.

The Liberal Party was founded in 1859 as a merger of the Whig Party and the Peelites, a group of Conservatives who supported free trade. The new party was initially known as the “Liberal Party” or the “Liberal-Labour Party” (to distinguish it from the Conservative Party), but it eventually dropped the “Labour” part of its name.

The Labour Party was founded in 1900 as a political party for the working class. It was initially known as the “Labour Representation Committee,” but it changed its name to the “Labour Party” in 1906.

Political parties in the United States have changed their names and ideologies several times over the country’s history. However, the changes were gradual, and there is no specific timeline for when the parties changed their names. The two major political parties in the United States today are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828 and was originally known as the Democratic-Republican Party. Over time, the party evolved and split into factions, with one faction becoming known as the Democratic Party in the 1830s. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party and was initially known as the Whig Party. The party changed its name to the Republican Party in 1856.

People should also note that NUP didn’t emerge from the People Power Movement (PPM). NUP and PP are totally different things though a lot of people allied with PP joined NUP when Kyagulanyi became its new president. The PP was never a Kyagulanyi initiative as several people have tried to explain, but I have seen a lot of media outlets wrongly calling it his. Kyagulanyi was a newcomer to the PP but it’s amazing how he hijacked the movement and portrayed himself as its leader. PP is literally a product of the ‘TOJIKWATAKO’ movement that opposed the lifting of the presidential age limits.

Bobi’s Current Mistakes Remind me of The Fox & the Monkey – Aesop’s Fables

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

At a great meeting of the Animals, who had gathered to elect a new ruler, the Monkey was asked to dance. This he did so well, with a thousand funny capers and grimaces, that the animals were carried entirely off their feet with enthusiasm, and then and there, elected him their king.

The Fox did not vote for the Monkey and was much disgusted with the Animals for electing such an unworthy ruler.

One day he found a trap with a bit of meat in it. Hurrying to King Monkey, he told him he had found a rich treasure, which he had not touched because it belonged by right to his majesty the Monkey.

The greedy Monkey followed the Fox to the trap. As soon as he saw the meat he grasped eagerly for it, only to find himself held fast in the trap. The Fox stood off and laughed.

“You pretend to be our king,” he said, “and cannot even take care of yourself!”

Shortly after that, another election among the Animals was held, and I guess you already know who won.

In the case of NUP and its leader, Kyagulanyi aka Bobi, elections haven’t been held in his party yet – I even wonder whether we shall see a delegates’ conference anytime soon.

All I know is that desperate Ugandans got excited in 2020-21 and got a bad deal in Kyagulanyi as the face of opposition. Let us hope the “animals” in Uganda begin to elect better leaders in future rather than those that act like the Monkey in their character, qualities, and actions.

Fundamentally, Bobi is the monkey who caught the car. He got what he spent his whole life chasing, then realised the chase was much more fun than actually doing the job.

Bobi swept into politics on an incredible landslide of public support in Kyadondo East and later decided to stand for presidency, decimating his rivals in opposition.

In the end, there was only one opposition politician in the entire country who had sufficient power and influence to actually take down Bobi. Who was that politician? Bobi himself.

Never in my life have I seen such an incredible display of self-sabotage. Bobi has done himself more damage than his political opponents could ever have dreamed of, including but not limited to:

1. Posting a photo of his armoured car on social media the day after withdrawing the electoral petition against Museveni. Then later on, Museveni gave a waver tax on it in a letter written on 7th June 2021 to Uganda Revenue Authority.

2. Moving away from the People power movement that embraced different parties to joining Kibalama’s NUP.

3. Presiding over a culture of near constant partying, traveling,insults, and rule breaking,

4.Promoting his elder brother, Nyanzi, to a position of authority over other senior leaders because he is his blood, despite fully knowing that it portrays him as nepotistic in the party.

5. Accusing all his MPs of working for Museveni in a BBC interview when asked about the Anti- LGBT Bill. And then later on brazenly lied to them about how much he was forced to answer that way when he came back to Uganda, causing them public embarrassment.

6. The current saga has been the public embarrassment of his deputy president, Mathias Mpuuga, over the shs.500m recommended by the parliamentary Commission to be given to him after serving as LOP for about 2 years.

While speaking at the funeral of ‘’Omutaka we Kiika’’, he said, ” For us, we were winning awards and interacting with the Schwarzeneggers, and then I read on social media the corruption scandals involving my fellow leader….”

Lol, that reminds me of a scene in The Simpsons Movie, where President Schwarzenegger (yes, really) is presented with a set of three unthinkable options for a difficult situation. He chooses one at random, stating that “I was elected to LEAD, not to READ.” That’s Bobi – he decided to punish the former leader of the opposition before reading everything about parliamentary laws.

What do all of those incidents have in common? He did it to himself.

Gratuity toLeader Of Opposition

Gratuity is given by the employer to an employee for the services rendered by him. It is usually paid at the time of retirement, but it can be paid before provided certain conditions are met.

Gratuity is merely an older and more formal word than tip – originally meaning “gift” and coming from the Latin word “gratus” meaning thankful. A gratuity is, therefore, a gift given as thanks.

Tip sands for “To Insure Promptness” or prompt service. In the UK we may give a tip to a waiter if we think that waiter has provided exceptional service or if just feeling kind. Some sneaky establishments give you a bill with ‘gratuity included’ on it, but you do not have to pay it (by law). I believe that in the US things are slightly different and a tip is expected – to the degree that they come running after you if you don’t leave one.

LOP equals the leader of govt business in parliament (Prime Minister -PM). The PM is given benefits in perpetuity. The LOP office should have been provided with a retirement package under the previous amended remunerations Act, but it didn’t happen.

The shs.500m to Mpuunga was a one-off for the LOP. The parliamentary commission (PC) made its recommendations to the budget committee and the House. So, I don’t see any illegality on the side of Mpuuga. The PC isn’t an illegal body, and all its actions are protected under our constitution.

There’s a massive difference between a bribe and gratuity. A bribe is paying someone to accomplish an otherwise unavailable (and often improper/unethical) outcome. Bribery is a payment made to cause an outcome that would not necessarily have been the outcome otherwise. It was unfair for Kyagulanyi to blatantly call Mpuuga corrupt, moreover, in public. That amounted to character assassination, and it’s really sad. He needs to stop killing people’s political careers that way. Mpuuga is basically being ”punished” because he’s becoming popular in NUP.

What do you think of the Pope’s latest views on Ukraine war?

Pope Francis has said that Ukraine should have the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion two years ago.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest Eastern Catholic Church in the world. As of 2019, it had approximately 4.1 million members.

It just doesn’t make sense that the Vatican would risk alienating over 4 million Ukrainian Greek Catholics to somehow seek to protect 3 thousand Russian Greek Catholics.

No matter how holy one is, when it comes to physical affairs, I have found out that one is more influenced by his belief than his intimacy with God when making decisions. You just have to look at all the past Popes and how they handled physical issues.

the no nonsense authoritarian Cardinal Achille Ratti, Pope Pius XI (1922–1939) despite being an anti communist, he hated Adolf Hitler with all his breath. He had already commissioned an Encyclical in which he strongly condemned Antisemitism derided Nazism and spoke very firmly and prophetically about Nazi Germany.

Unfortunately three days to the convention in which he was supposed to denounce the Nazis he died at 81 years. His doctor was also responsible for Mussolini’s health, so it’s believed that the Nazis got rid of him!

His successor Pius XII turned out at best to be a coward and at worst a Nazi sympathizer. Don’t ask me what happened to the Encyclical after Pius XI died!

 The Vatican has been invaded in the past, it’s been sacked, it’s been looted, it’s gotten burned a little bit, and there was a little over half a century where the French kidnapped the pope and set up their own papacy in Avignon.Last time was 1870, by the army of united Italia.

On June 5, 1944, Vatican City was occupied by a battalion of the American 5th Army.

Ukraine’s biggest problem is, as far as NATO ships are concerned, is its lack of a secure sea port. Supplying Ukrainian forces would be much easier, if there was a secure sea lane and port access. But the Black Sea has always been under Russian control, it would be suicide for USNS or USN ships to transit to Odessa or any other port in the Black Sea. Everything NATO has sent to Ukraine has been mostly by land or air, which can get real expensive- as we learned in Afghanistan.